When we announced the Feathers Award in December 2020, we knew it would attract some very special entries. This was not only because for this inaugural competition we allowed for entries from any time in the past 24 months, but also because in our experience fly anglers in Africa are, for the most part, hard-charging [...]
Glossy, durable, flexible and perfect for fly tying. In Pattex 100% Platon Trakoshis believes he has found the ultimate fly tying glue for building baitfish heads Glue. It’s always such a big question and discussion with fly tiers. “What did you glue the eyes on with? How did you make that head? What are you [...]
In our social media age of non-stop self-promotion and faux-modesty, there are a few anglers that seem not only to develop an aura that demands respect, but that somehow manage to do it off-line, above the wash. Navigating myths, rumours and legends, Jazz Kuschke discovers that, if you’ve heard any kind of story about Mark [...]
Sizeable, visible, and seemingly impossible, there are few fish as infuriating as spotted grunter. As much as anyone can figure them out, a select few like Jannie Visser have. Listen up. From pancakes and prawns, JAM and turds, these are his pearls of grunter wisdom. As pin-ups on the res walls of Stellenbosch University students [...]
….When you know it’s time to go. The research of Dr Paul Cowley and his team from SAIAB has shown that spotted grunter travel far less than previously thought. Or, at least, in modern times don’t migrate as they may have in the past. Results from one particular study showed that 95% of all recaptured [...]
From body-boarding to skateboarding, exploring the Vaal River and its tributaries for amazing yellowfish action, or inventing fly patterns like the brilliant Papa Roach, whatever our issue 21 Lifer Herman Botes does in life, he does at full tilt.
It’s the first of a three-morning stretch of epic grunter fishing and I don’t even know it yet. All I know is that two weeks prior I had a small taste of things to come. A new fly pattern in hand, I knew I’d dialled their number. Now I wanted an answer.
What’s the saltwater equivalent of a trout bum? Whatever it is, Henkie Altena of Karoolskraal Fly Fishing Camp, a living, walking legend of the Karoo and Overberg fly fishing scenes fit the description. We caught up with him for our issue 18 Lifer profile. The first fish I can remember catching on fly, was a [...]
Over the past decade I’ve had the privilege of working with some of South Africa’s finest action- and adventure-sports athletes. Seriously bad ass cats who make a living from their respective sports. Surfers, rally drivers, climbers, BASE jumpers, FMX dudes, triathletes and trail runners. Among others. While they’re all characters in their own right and [...]
Neil Rowe and I were discussing grunter at dinner on Alphonse Island when he mentioned that he’d (for many years) had quite good success fishing tandem prawn fly rigs in the Breede River. He described the ‘top’ fly as a standard floating prawn-type fly, such as the foam-backed prawn flipper or the deerhair prawns, with [...]
